1. |
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I knew a woman who said I was a mystery
We were talkin’ bout houses and memory
she said we all have a room we keep under lock and key and she gave me a tour, oh it wasn’t for free —
she showed me a piano, and she asked for a song
and I played it all night till the questions were gone
I met Camila at the hotel
We had drinks at the bar things were goin’ well,
She asked if I believed in heaven or hell,
I said, Heaven’s right here, far as I can tell
She said, Love is a game I haven’t played in so long But we played it all night till the questions were gone
I remember when I was just a kid
My brother ran away for weeks on end
And I was up late the night he finally came in,
but the look in his eyes said “don’t ask where I been” He just handed me a record, and I put it on
and we played it all night till the questions were gone
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2. |
Honey From The Lion
03:37
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sheets drawn across us
fragrance of blossoms
hummingbird throw your tongue into us
You dug a tunnel
Then came the runnel
Water has a way of seeping in
Had no one to bargain with
I admit, I believed in the myth
I sold you, but you weren’t buyin
You ran away with the dish and spoon
But I know you, and knowin you,
you’d grab a handful of honey from the lion
the flood has receded
I scan the beaches
and measure our love with a whalebone
whitewashed and sun-dried inside and outside
it was much too much to carry home
Wind-up dream, winding down Make it last, I don’t know how I lost you but I’m still cryin’
pounding with a fist of steel
everyone knew your last meal
would be a handful of honey from the lion
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3. |
Fugitive's Dream
04:39
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There ain’t no rest for flyin’ feet,
Lemme have what’s left of this fugitive’s dream and my foggy window fantasy
Despite my hopes, the sun is back
Turning rust to gold on the old train track
It’s time to move my little ass,
No time to weep — the time to weep has passed
There’ a guiding light in the changing sky Prayers go up in straight lines
And August is just a neon sign
It’s mine though, it’s mine though — it’s mine
All the ghosts are talking
with their mouths full,
and me, I’m watching the turnstiles turn
And grace is god
and god is the only one here with nowhere to turn in my fugitive’s dream
in my fugitive’s dream
Chin up, cheer up, sugarplum,
The paper’s sayin’ that we’ve won Healed the leper, chased the sun,
It’s over now, it’s over now — it’s done
Mother beneath your gentle braids, Behind the hands that hide your face, The madmen in the marketplace
It’s over now, it’s over now — We're safe
I cheer from bed, still spent from sex
The spiders have all gone to their nests
finally I get my rest
It’s over now, it’s over now —
In my fugitive’s dream,
I’m sneaking off to the choir to sing
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4. |
Silver Breath
03:58
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mouth around a cigarette
i watch the wind take your silver breath down crooked streets in the city light it’s the halo round the moon tonight
milky white and inky black
the garden grows along your back and so i’ll trace with fingertips
a sigh escaping from your lips
we can’t see anything now
except you and me
and if i ever had regret
i haven’t felt it with you yet
and so i want to know completely
this woman who has come to meet me
singin’ autumn days, calloo callay, and all the rhymes that children say i’ll memorize and learn my part
oh i wanna know you all by heart
but we don’t know anything now
except you and me
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5. |
Second Chances
02:53
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All my heroes sit up straight
they gaze at the ground — they radiate
Me, I’m mumblin’ in the kitchen for the sun to pay up lonely as a ring on a cold coffee cup
I’m some sick animal, I’m diggin’ for bones
if it weren’t for second chances we’d all be alone
These are the strangest hands I’ve ever seen I can’t believe they belong to me
turning my pockets for a note that you left cuppin’ my ear to hear the wind confess:
“I’m a ghost in the garden, I’m scarin’ the crows.” If it weren’t for second chances, we’d all be alone
Now I’m runnin’ from nothing, no thoughts in my mind Yeah my heart was all black, but I saw something shine Thought that part was yours but it might just be mine
I could share it with you if you gave me the time
Now I’m all bloody knuckles and longin’ for home, If it weren’t for second chances we’d all be alone
I’m shot through the head, I’m a black sinkhole
If it weren’t for second chances we’d all be alone
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6. |
Those Who Go
03:42
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Was it in your love that I was lost?
Somewhere in your human heart
I sinned and was left in the exhaust
of a city bus
What I thought was a coin in the rain —
a promise kept from the cold and the wet, the regret, and the remembered pain — was just a trick of the light
but from the street I heard the choir
just for a moment when the door was opened
to the poor and the tired,
“Those who go without, let them come in.”
Reaching for love in the dark, the chorus sings, inside us we grin with the age old spark
those who go without, they go within
Handing out poems at the gates I see Paul
there’s a reason why all my friends
are named for saints
those who go without they go within
and even my old hard-luck friend
has found a song and a room
and an ear to bend
those who go without they go within
Reaching for love in the dark
the chorus sings
inside us we grin with the age old spark
those who go without, they go within
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7. |
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We found where the ash falls through the trap door
into the basement
with the masonry nails
and a cloudy cat’s eye marble
Is it cold on the moon?
It was cruel to leave
Earth without heroes
Earth without heroes
I don’t wanna hurt no one
I don’t wanna hurt no one
I don’t wanna hurt no one
I don’t wanna hurt no one
Your family misses you
and we miss you over here
Where did you get all your good cheer?
Where did you get all your good cheer?
I was stupid about history
But it made sense to you
You could see where we were headed to
Oh what should I do?
Who’s left to be true to?
Of course I could follow you
But I don’t wanna hurt no one
I don’t wanna hurt no one
I don’t wanna hurt no one
I don’t wanna hurt no one
I wanna be remembered like you
moving with grace in the reflection of a glass
beautiful, plucked from the grass
But I don’t wanna hurt no one
I don’t wanna hurt no one
I don’t wanna hurt no one
I don’t wanna hurt no one
I don’t wanna hurt no one
I don’t wanna hurt no one
I don’t wanna hurt no one
I don’t wanna hurt no one
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8. |
You Don't Get To Choose
05:43
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There was always a reason to wait
There was always a reason to stay
There was always a branch I could bend
There was always a berry I could take
There was always a coat to patch up
There was always a bruise waiting to heal
There was always an ember still aglow
There was always the promise of a meal
But never such quiet and stars
Quiet and stars
Quiet and stars
Quiet and stars
Funny how they fall
How they seem to come on all at once
Or not at all
Aw
There was always better weather up ahead
There was always a friend in a bind
There was always next seasons loves
There was always a lover to leave behind
There was always the same old fear
Never seemed to be a choice
There was always everything I held dear
Then I heard the quiet of your voice
The quiet of your voice
The quiet of your voice
The quiet of your voice
The quiet of your voice
Funny how it goes
The feelings they come on all at once
Or not at all
Aw
But you don't get to choose
Do you?
There was always an exit
There was always a way out of bed
There was always a light in my eyes
There was always a voice in my head
Funny how it goes
The feelings they come on all at once
Or not at all
Aw
But you don't get to choose
Do you?
You don't get to choose
Do you?
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9. |
Words
03:34
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Words mean more at night
Like a song
And did you ever notice, light means more than it did all day long?
Words mean more at night,
LIght means more,
Like your hair, and your face, and your smile And our bed, and the dress that you wore
So I’ll send you my words, from the corner of my room
And though I write them by the light of day
Please read them by the light of the moon
I wish I could leave my bones, and my skin
And sail over the tired, tired sea, so I could see you again
But maybe you would leave too, and we’d blindly pass each other Sailin’ over the ocean blue, just to find the warm bed of our lover
So I’ll send you my words,
from the corner of my room
And though I write them by the light of day
Please read them by the light of the moon
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10. |
Desdemone
04:30
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Oh Desdemone, she don’t sleep
she just smokes and stares at the stars fallin’ on her street
She’s known the night so long
she tells me that each hour has it’s own song
So if I drift, give me a shake
or just hold my feet until I wake Until I wake, I won’t be gone
Just save me a place
When the new day comes
They’ve got eyes and ears all over this town
I can’t scratch my back without bein’ found out
So I’m packin’ up, and headed West
where I don’t do no good, but I feel my best
So if I drift, give me a shake
or just hold my feet until I wake
Until I wake, I’ll dream of you
Just save me a place when I come back through
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11. |
Sing What We Cannot Say
03:04
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I can’t think when I’m standing still
So I’ll walk till my feet complain
And the sun grows red, just like a rose that ya throw at the end of a play
See the curtain is falling down
and the singer’s undressing backstage And she nods at the applause,
she sings what we cannot say
It’s just a step to the mailbox,
it’s a walk to the new hotel,
And to your door it’s a half tank of gas, and a road that I’ve traveled well
I’ll pull onto the highway
and turn on the radio
And keep my ear tuned for a good line I can steal for my arsenal
I keep some leaves in the glovebox, And I’m drunk on a box of wine, The radio voices crumbled away When I hit the state line
It was the night of your whale song, and the eve of a new saint’s day And I was speechless,
just like the stars,
won’t you sing what we cannot say
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Ilan Isakov Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Ilan Isakov is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and composer based in Philadelphia. He has written music for film, television, theatre and contemporary dance.
His debut album Straight Lines was released on November 19th, 2021
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